1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to water aeration devices, and particularly to a portable rotating disc aerator having a plurality of oppositely reciprocating resilient elements of open cell absorbent material disposed along a rotary shaft for absorbing air and dispensing the air beneath the surface of the water.
2. Description of the Related Art
Water is aerated for a wide variety of purposes, e.g., providing oxygenated water for aquarium use, introducing dissolved oxygen in water for aerobic bacteria in sewage processing, and other operations. Conventional aeration uses permanently installed, porous air pipes or ducts that are submerged within the body of water being treated. The air is supplied by adjacent compressors and expelled from the porous pipes to bubble up through the water. Such systems are reasonably practical for relatively small aquaria and the like, but become quite costly in terms of initial cost and the cost of operation and maintenance when considering an installation in a relatively large body of water, such as a sewage treatment plant or the like. Moreover, such systems are clearly not portable and cannot be temporarily installed in a natural body of water in response to a disaster, such as wastewater contamination, etc.
Thus, a rotating disc aerator device solving the aforementioned problems is desired.